Two more Eagles earn All-Conference honors at BSC indoor

The Eastern Washington University track and field team brought its all-conference performance total to four Feb. 23 at the Big Sky Indoor Championships in Bozeman, Mont.

Highlighting the day for the Eagles was Jordan Arakawa, who had a huge personal-best toss of 65 feet, 4 inches in the weight throw to place second. That mark earned Arakawa all-conference honors and moved him up to second all-time in school history behind school-record holder David Paul (68-8 1/2).

“Jordan had a tremendous meet and lead the way in a stellar effort by our throwers,” head coach Stan Kerr said.

Brad Michael finished second in the 400 meters, running a time of 47.84 seconds. He was the runner-up behind the winning time of 47.57 from Weber State’s Matt White. This is Michael’s third straight all-conference performance since beginning his career at Eastern.

“Brad was stellar this weekend,” Kerr said. “He was dynamite in each of his events and he continues to be a very important asset to this team.”

Elise Jepsen placed sixth in the high jump, hitting a mark of 5-5 to tie her season best. “I was really pleased with Elise because that was a loaded field,” women’s head coach Marcia Mecklenburg said. “She moved up on her ranking and we really needed that from her.”

“Anytime a freshman can come in and score is really important for the team,” Mecklenburg said. “It shows us that we have a great future in that event area.” Freshman David Thor ran a time of 1:56.21 in the 800 final, placing seventh and scoring two points for Eastern.

The men’s 4x400 relay team of Nick Olsson, Collin Green, Kramer Green and Michael finished fifth with a time of 3:16.84.

The BSC Indoor Championships capped off the 2013 indoor season for the Eagles. They will begin their outdoor season March 16 at the Dusty Lane Open in Spokane.